[Closed] Have we done Concorde?

Just seen this on Facebook, wish I could raise £1200 let alone £120 million, insane for what would be a pure vanity project! It'd be bloody brilliant to see it flying again though!

I want to win the lottery too but its probably not going to happen!

Hmm, it's one thing buying one and even restoring it to flight condition - it's another thing entirely getting permission to fly one again. More pipe dreams IMHO.

£120M is a drop in the ocean of what is required to get one of these things flying again, let alone what will be required to keep her flying. As much as I love Concorde I struggle to see the point in getting one flying for a short time.

Having one or two running won't make it commercially viable. So it then becomes a display toy. They've struggled to keep the Vulcan going and I bet that's significantly cheaper to run

Surely It would be the ultimate status symbol for some oligarch?
Better than being 13th in the premier league.

£120M is a drop in the ocean of what is required to get one of these things flying again, let alone what will be required to keep her flying.

You'd presume a consortium of engineers, pilots etc would have a bit more of an idea than someone on a bike forum? Not that I wholly disagree.

The Vulcan isn't being grounded due to a lack of funds per se, it's a lack of engineering support.

If you're thinking of chucking money this way for the floating museum, good on you. If you think there's ANY chance that it'll fly again, you'd be better off burning your cash on the stove.

It'll never happen - for the cost of restoring this to airworthiness you could build another from scratch. And that's assuming you could persuade EADS and RR to support the recertification, which they won't. And the hydraulic systems were drained 10+ years ago, which means they're probably knackered and would need replacing with spares. Oh, wait. There aren't any.

This is a con of the highest order.

I've got 20 years in the aerospace industry so do have some idea as to what the costs involved are. Believe me £120M in Aerospace is not even loose change. It's not exactly a run of the mill aircraft, so very few rules and precedents to carry over from other aircraft restorations like the Vulcan. At this stage I bet the Airworthiness Authorities are not even sure what would be required to get it airworthy again. They could, for example, decide that following the AF Accident the tyres need re-designing, re-certifying with all the tests and demonstrations that entails. We'll that's your £120M spent already on just a set of tyres.

Not another tyre thread !

Which wheel size to make the runway come alive?

What tyres for 250mph on tarmac? (preferably ones which don't burst and fire bits everywhere when they hit something)

The Vulcan isn't being grounded due to a lack of funds per se, it's a lack of engineering support.

Which is exactly the problem they would have with getting Concorde in the air.

Yes, besides the airframe hours - the Vulcan is being grounded due to Rolls Royce dropping there support for the Olympus engines...
Remind me again what type of engine the Concorde uses?

Remind me again what type of engine the Concorde uses?

And Concorde had reheat which makes the whole engine far more complicated!

Can't see this being more than a publicity stunt to be honest. Didn't Richard Branson try something similar when BA and Air France announced they were grounding the fleet? I'm sure he tried to buy a Concorde but everyone, including Airbus, told him to get stuffed.

Engineering support is fundamental to this as it was the Vulcan - it's more than fundamental, its basically what the project is all about. Sourcing and bolting the parts together isn't such a challenge, but getting that all important Airworthiness Authority ticket to fly is ultimately what it's all about. That is the reason for the huge costs involved. Following the AF Accident I don't even think the Airworthiness Authoriteis would support return to the air of this aircraft. Both the FAA and EASA have clamped down in recent years following a few high profile accidents and incidents.

A few years ago when I was last at Airbus in Toulouse I was shown their Concorde that was being kept in 'airworthy' condition. But there was no intention or plan to get her flying again.

crazy-legs
And Concorde had reheat which makes the whole engine far more complicated!

Reheat is the easy bit! The gen1 digitally controlled intake system is the tricky part! The Vulcans engines are pretty simple, the Concordes have a significantly more complex, and totally unsupported now, electro-mechanical intake system that is critical to their operation. Even if you waved £1B at RR they (rightly) wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.....

Ex-military jets like the Lightning, Phantom, Harrier etc can't get CAA approval as they are classed as complex aircraft. Can't see how Concorde differs from that no matter how much money they raise.

thinks of all the kittens you could save with £120m.

Like the world needs more cats.

I would love to see it flying again, but........ as above.

I'm sure he tried to buy a Concorde but everyone, including Airbus, told him to get stuffed.

He was only offering a quid, though. In a typical Beardie hubristic way.

It doesn't actually say they'll get it flying for 120 million though.. Maybe the 120m is to start the initial process of getting engineers and so on to do feasibility studies before they seek further funding or turn it into an ongoing business?

I'd love to see it on the Thames though, similar to the SR-71 display in New York.

Just drop a 1.2 Nova engine in it with a K&N filter. Its not rocket science